Every Cloud's Silver Lining
by Lady Inu13
Summary: Sakura's sick of her family and runs away only to be found by her old sensei. KakaSaku Reviews will be tended to on profile page.


Hello, FFN readers. I'm back after practically a year of happenings and with a big surprise to the Naruto fans across the land. I apologize for waiting so long, but Spring semester is when I get the most inspiration for writing. For those of you who don't know what I mean, go look it up at any junior college website. Oh and for you people that think I'm an adult with not enough funds for a university, in all actuality, I'm a kid with a great opportunity.

Firstly, I'd like to point out that if you don't like Kakashi-Sakura pairings, then get over it and GET OUT of this web page. I, personally, believe that they make a cute couple and if the domos hadn't gotten a hold of my manuscript three years ago, I'd be owning Naruto and putting the two together.

Secondly, I don't know if Sakura has siblings, but in this fan-fic, she has three younger sisters. Got a problem with it? Then go take it up with the domos.

Now, without further ado, I present you with: Every Cloud's Silver Lining.

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Her pink, bobbed haircut always seemed to act the way she did. For instance, if she was ever upset, the hair ended up with split ends. When she was angry, her hair bristled with static electricity though there was no balloon in sight. But while she was rock bottom depressed, like now, her hair drooped so low, her face was nearly invisible.

The only way he knew this was because he had tailed her for so long that he was able to read her the way he read Icha Icha Paradise. No, no, not in the perverted amused way that everyone perceived, but rather devotedly and empathetically. This was ridiculous, he knew; he just couldn't help it anymore. It was as much second nature to watch her as his mask was his second skin since he could remember.

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What had started this all was the day she had at home. It started well enough, waking early to see the second and third children off to the academy while her parents worked. Thankfully, she had no missions or training that day, so she watched her baby sister, the youngest of the four girls. Sakura read a few of her favorite stories while little Kiyoko played with her dolls and Big Wheel tricycle. Her mother came home with the other two sisters after work with milkshakes, shortly followed by her father with a general challenge to Scrabble, the tiled word game.

It wasn't exactly the game that bothered Sakura, nor her father's winning the game, her mother's gloating and herself coming in third place in points. It was the clean up to make room for a second round. Sakura's mother realized that there were two tiles missing, even though it was years and a move since they lost one of the A and D tiles. Sakura just counted down the seconds before her mom would come out with a usual accusation of "As usual, we can never keep anything nice in this house. Our kids always turn up something that needs replacing."

Her dad, in an off handed chance of actually standing up for the morale of his daughters, spoke softly, stating that he "came to the realization that everything in his life ended up needed replacing, including the dishes, glassware and silverware." Her mom followed the listing with a retort of the missing items always being the kids' fault.

Sakura stared at the now packed up board game with the same hard glare Sasuke used. She finally perfected it to where the glare was laced with hatred. She was always being blamed for everything when it came down to it. She wasn't a boy, so her family name couldn't be carried on. She was the eldest daughter of the Haruno family, so she was supposed to be responsible. Sakura was seventeen, for Christ or Buddha's sake. She was a ninja. She knew darn well what responsibility meant. Sakura was born when her mother was nineteen, so Mrs. Haruno couldn't go on to college while Mr. Haruno worked. She had to be the whipping girl whenever her mother was upset. And Sakura was sick of it.

"Now what was my Christmas present from you, Sakura? Wasn't it that you wouldn't be depressed or sulk anymore?" Her mom nagged.

"I'm not sulking or depressed," Sakura said in a flat-line tone. The family game had turned sour to Sakura and she just wanted to get away.

**You know you could. Just use your cherry blossom jutsu. You'd disappear in a pouf of petals, leaving only that as a clue to your absence.** Inner Sakura offered. Sakura resorted to doing the dishes while her family watched movies in her parents' alcove. It ended with a nearly broken dish because Sakura accidentally handled them with more ferocity than what she planned.

Sakura needed to get away quickly and disappeared with a cloud of cherry blossom petals the way she wanted. It would do her parents justice to worry about her for once instead of her future and their personal belongings.

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She ended up going to one of the most deserted places that only one other person she knew visited often. The cenotaph seemed like the only welcoming place to her at the moment. It was also fitting that it rained that evening. For some reason the winter atmosphere, with its cold, hard, clear dusks and dawns, had mercy on Sakura and better suited her mood with a cold, hard, rainy evening.

She stood there, looking at the cenotaph, soaking in the names the same way her clothes were soaking up the rain. She had no idea who these people were, nor did she know that the two names she kept mumbling to herself were affiliated with her former sensei. All she knew was that the two names seemed to ring a bell, but she had no idea which was ringing.

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Uchiha Obito and Rin

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Her rose colored, jasmine scented hair drooped lower and lower not half as much as from the rain. Her head was bowed, her arms crossed. The outfit she usually donned was traded for something most unconventional for her. It was a thin white outfit, and even though it was the same style as her pink and black one, Sakura hated white for its purity, simplicity, and blandness. Sakura pretty much was fed up with the world and all in it, so it worked out anyway. She had no jacket on, no long pants or arm and leg warmers. She just had her white, completely drenched clothes and sandals along with the standard ninja tools, i.e., kunai, shuriken, and headband.

And this is how he found her, dripping with the rain, eyes red from the strain of holding back tears, completely the opposite of how he liked to think of her. He walked quietly up behind her and draped his vest over her shoulders.

"And just why are you reading the names on the memorial stone?" He asked in his deep, warm voice.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," she sniffed. Sakura shivered, though she was now in Kakashi's equally warm vest. He turned her around and surveyed her face. Her forehead was slightly creased with worry, and her eyes were too glassy for his liking. The kunoichi's lips were poised in a small, quivering pout and her skin was deathly pale and as cold as ice.

"C'mon. I'll take you to my place and get you something warm on you and in you." Kakashi picked Sakura up and carried her to his apartment. She felt capable of following on her own two feet, but apparently, she had no choice in the matter and remained silent.

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She couldn't help but notice that the rain didn't seem to fall on Kakashi. It seemed as if there was an invisible barrier around him that gave a visual effect of a glow. She stared at the masked face and his "glow." It was a bit saintly looking, but suited him well. Her discovery was short lived as Kakashi pulled out his keys and opened the door.

Kakashi carried Sakura over the threshold and gently seated her on his couch. "Uhmm . . . Sakura, my room is the second door on the right, and my dresser drawers are at the wall facing the foot of my bed. I'm sure you can find something to wear. I'll make you some tea or cocoa, okay?"

"Sure, sensei," came a short, befuddled answer.

"Please, Sakura. Kakashi is my name. I'm not your instructor anymore. Call me Kakashi."

"Sure, thing, sense– I mean Kakashi." Sakura walked to Kakashi's drawers and pulled out the first drawer. "Underwear... So he's a boxers kind of man...Just what I needed to see right now."

The second try was more rewarding. She picked out a simple, long sleeved turtleneck from the sea of black fabric after trying out various shirts she had plucked from their nests. A thing all of them had in common: they all had attached masks and hung loosely off of Sakura. Only the mask fitted her remotely perfectly.

Sakura stripped off her soggy clothes until she was standing in her undergarments and looked at the shirt she decided to wear. At that inopportune moment, Copy Ninja Kakashi walked in with a towel for Sakura to dry off with and immediately shut his eyes— eye— and the patch of skin that showed on his face turned a bright cherry red.

"S-Sakura? The hot chocolate's done, and I thought you needed a towel..." he started. His guest looked around to see the black fluffy towel offered and the bearer turned away. Instead of squealing "Eeek! A peeping Tom!" in embarrassment like any other girl, Sakura bypassed the towel and hugged the old man.

"Thank you," she whispered as she took the towel and tiptoed to kiss his covered cheek.

"Ah... heh heh... I'll just leave now." Kakashi left in a flash, thinking _'her body fits mine. She's the perfect size. **But she's younger than you by thirteen years! She was your student! You can't think of her like that...' **_He argued with himself the entire time he waited for Sakura to finish in his room. He couldn't even enjoy his book until she came out. The only he could do was lounge quietly on his couch and wait.

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She emerged from the jounin's chambers in his turtleneck. It looked more like a kimono style top on her than it did Kakashi's shirt. She found two steaming mugs of cocoa accompanied by the man's beat-up headband on the coffee table and the older nin catnapping on the couch.

_He's so cute and peaceful looking when he's asleep, _she thought. _I'll let him wake up to an equally cute and peaceful surprise._ After drinking all in her mug, Sakura lifted herself onto Kakashi's black clad chest and laid down her head. She positioned herself to where her bare legs were between his and yet where she would not crush anything important. She placed Kakashi's arms around her and snaked her own slender hands around his waist.

His body was warm and soft but firm. She easily felt his torso rise and fall in time to his breathing and soon drifted off to her own dreams. Soothing thoughts filled her mind and she sighed while slipping into a deeper state of sleep.

"My happy place..."

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Kakashi only woke because he felt something tremble on him. When he realized Sakura was on him, he was grateful for his mask. He felt his face heat up as he smiled. She was so tiny and seemed so fragile to him. He hadn't the heart to wake her, so he carefully lifted her and carried her to his bed. Kakashi saw that she had just one of his turtlenecks on and no pants. It was a good thing that he had more self-control than the average pervert or he'd be doing things to her that no girl Sakura's age should ever have to go through.

He tucked her into his shades of black sheets, noting how well her hair stood out against the abyss he had for a bed. She looked better now and her hair resumed its rightful position in a short, tousled kind of way. He leaned closer as he studied his sleeping blossom. Her cheeks were a bit more colored than earlier that evening and she looked less sickly. Her eyelashes were still covered in tiny droplets of water, but she was beautiful. He kissed her "charming wide forehead" lightly and tenderly, tasting strawberries and cherries on her skin and smelling the faint lavender from her hair.

It reminded him of Pakkun.

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To my readers:

I apologize about my snippy-ness at the start of this story, so please forgive me and read on. As you may have noticed, Naruto is completely absent here, and Sasuke is mentioned only once as a point of reference. The reason for this is because this fic is my first Kakashi-Sakura pairing and I want to just focus on them.

As for reviews go, I would appreciate no reviews with any of the following:

"Great story!"

"Keep writing!"

"I love your story!"

"Please write more!"

"I can't wait for the next chapter!"

And so on and so forth. It just clutters my email inbox and it is annoying, so please think your reviews through before you press the send button. Responses to reviews will be answered on my profile page, but if they are worthy of complete recognition, I will add them to the end of the following chapter.

-Arrigato gozaimas, Konoha Girl


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